Text: Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice, by Sonja K. Foss (3rd
Edition). This text will provide a guide to the various methods of
rhetorical criticism. The organizational structure of the course will
follow the outline of this textbook.

Course Description
This course is an introduction to rhetorical criticism, a form of research
used to understand how and why symbols affect our beliefs, judgments,
commitments, and actions. “Rhetoric” is a term that has
very negative connotations in our society, and is often contrasted
with more positive words such as “action,” “truth,” or “reality.” We
operate from a different understanding of rhetoric in this course,
one that sees rhetoric as a basis for all coordinated human activity.
We will all learn ten different methods or perspectives for understanding
the rhetorical dimension of public culture. In other words, we will
devote ourselves to understanding how the events, actions, and objects
common to everyday experience in America influence us and the society
in which we live.

Understanding the “methods” or perspectives of rhetorical
criticism is a small but important part of a liberal arts, faith-based
education. Scholars who employ these methods generally use them to create
new theories about the use and influence of rhetoric. You can use rhetorical
criticism to gain more personal control over your own beliefs and actions.
By slowing down the persuasive process we become more aware of how our
beliefs, values, and commitments are created and managed in ways that
often eclipse conscious awareness. That knowledge can be empowering because
it enables us to “stand outside of” those forces that are
influencing our identities, which gives us more control over the purpose
and direction of our personal and collective lives.

Course goals for all sections of COMM 260:

To familiarize students with the foundational concepts, categories
and vocabulary of rhetoric and rhetorical criticism.

To introduce the major approaches to rhetorical criticism
that comprises the qualitative approach to communication research.

To familiarize students with the most common strategies and
techniques of public persuasive campaigns.

To improve ability to both understand and evaluate the artifacts
of public culture.

Organization of the Course: We begin with an introduction
to the course followed by ten weeks devoted to understanding the ten
methods of rhetorical
criticism, and conclude with three weeks of final student presentations.
Weeks 2-11 will generally follow the same M, W, F schedule:

Monday: Introduction of new method & application of method
to scholarly or other introductory example.

Wednesday: Discussion of student essay(s) utilizing method.

Friday: Student led rhetorical criticism lab.

Rhetoric: The discipline of rhetoric has a long and
complex history. Through most of that history, rhetoric has been associated
with
a formal setting in which a prepared speech is delivered to a particular
and limited audience. The rhetorician was a specialist with words—a skilled
practitioner of the art of developing and arranging arguments
and aesthetic appeals to achieve the greatest possible persuasive effect.

Today, however, the term rhetoric takes in a much larger set of activities
than the prepared public speech or formal written document. A “rhetorical
dimension” has been discovered in everything from scientific
reports to the architectural design of buildings. According to
this view, any
human symbolic action that influences public attitudes, beliefs,
and behaviors contains important rhetorical functions that merit
our attention.

Public Culture: This insight—that persuasion
is evident in a range of artifacts widely available to the public—is
now frequently applied to the artifacts of popular culture with which
we all
are familiar. Movies,
television programs, popular songs, books, magazines, advertisements,
sporting events, and even sports and entertainment celebrities
themselves are seen as rhetorical, that is, as both symbolic
in nature and persuasive
by design. As the concept of widely available cultural artifacts
has been broadened to include speeches and other more traditional
forms
of communication, and to include cultural factors that were not
previously considered persuasive or rhetorical at all, for example
public monuments,
the term public culture is beginning to displace the narrower
term popular
culture.

The readings and assignments for this course are intended
to help us to gain a better understanding of the rhetoric of public
culture.
We
will consider how many of the symbols most of us are broadly
exposed to on an everyday basis influence value commitments,
shape personal
identity, assist the formation of group identity, and distribute
power.

Assignments and requirements: This course will involve readings, assignments,
exams, quizzes, class discussion, and a final project.

In-class discussion and attendance accounts for 10% of the course grade.

One midterm exam will be given, which counts for 10% of your grade in
the course.

A final exam will make up 20% of your grade. The final will consist
of two parts. First, you will select one method to analyze a brief artifact
of the instructor’s choosing during the designated exam time. Second,
you will write a reflective essay about the state of contemporary public
culture based on trends identified while listening to the final presentations.

Brief written assignments presented in class and quizzes on readings
make up 20% of the course grade.

Working in groups of 5-6, each student will lead class discussion twice
this semester (10% of overall course grade).

A final project involving a paper and presentation will account for 30%
of your grade.

Plagiarism and cheating: I assume that you know what constitutes dishonest
behavior in an academic setting. If at any time you have any questions
in this regard, please ask me. All established cases of cheating or plagiarism
will be considered major violations of the Code for Academic Integrity
(discussed in the Hope College Catalogue), and will be handled in accordance
with the Code. Please read the code if you haven't already.

Attendance: Attendance is taken daily. You wouldn’t dare not show
up to work for fear of getting fired, so why skip class every once in
a while? More than two unexcused absences during the semester will adversely
affect your final grade in the course.